My first cheese!

[Phiber_optikx2]

Made my first cheese last night.  I went with a farmhouse cheddar following Ricki Carroll's book.  I didn't take any pictures during the make because I was certain I was failing the entire time. But after taking it out of the press I am happy with it! I accidentally tore it a little while trying to cut off the bulges from the press. Now it is leaking a little whey but I'm sure it will close back up. Going to give it a few days and then a wax and into the cave!

[DoctorCheese]

Congrats! Looks better than my very first cheese attempt... AC4U

[Phiber_optikx2]

Thank you. Several times along the way I thought it was a doomed venture. I used store bought and forgot to add calcium chloride. So my curds took twice as long and even then weren't too firm. And then during milling it called for "walnut" size. I had no clue if that meant the meat or the shell and ended up going much smaller. I wish they would give an actual standard measurement..... We will see how it looks in a month.

[AeonSam]

Nice cheese!

Way better than my first Farmhouse Cheddar

Sam

[Mike Cross]

Nice cheese.  Don't worry about calcium chloride.  I use store bought milk almost every time and haven't used calcium chloride in over a year without any problems.  I keep the stuff around if I need to make new brine, but that's all I ever use it for.

[Al Lewis]

Looks great!!  AC4U!!

[john H]

Nice cheese Phiber_optikx2 and welcome

[KaasZnawca]

That cheese looks professionally made. I'd eat it. Also I wouldn't know it was your first.

[Gregore]

I do not like to here that a cheddar is leaking whey from a cut .  You might have a little more moisture in it than normal , so expect it to age quicker .

And yes far nicer looking than my first cheese .

[Andrew Marshallsay]

Nice looking cheddar. A cheese from me also.
I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to wax it. A few days sounds too soon. You are likely to open the wax and find a wet cheese inside. I would be inclined to leave it 3 or 4 weeks before waxing.

[Gregore]

I agree with raw prawn , the worst that will happen is cracking , and if you see any of that let us know .

The second worst and most likely if you wait 4 weeks or so before waxing bagging or in any way sealing is that you end up with a slightly thicker rind .

But sealing to soon is a whole world of issues that need solving .  And some of them lead to a cheese that is not worth eating .